Changing
by Owl of the Night
Summary: "Good." James opened the compartment's door and looked back at Lily. "I really did miss you this summer." He walked down to the prefects' compartment, leaving a very confused Lily behind. Written for daysandweeks' & xXStandingInTheRainXx's challenges.
1. Missing Her

**Title:** Missing Her  
**Rating:** T  
**Character/Pairing:** Lily/James  
**Summary:** "Good." James opened the compartment's door and looked back at Lily. "I really did miss you this summer." He walked down to the prefects' compartment, leaving a very confused Lily behind. Written for daysandweeks' '5 Chapter Challenge' and xXStandingInTheRainXx's 'What You'd Never Write' challenge.

* * *

He was standing at the platform, watching as she chatted with her friend. The breeze caressed her now auburn hair- so different from the scarlet red it had been for the past six years. She was taller, more slender, but just as beautiful. He had missed her and wanted to go up and kiss her at that very moment, but his new resolution held fast. They were Heads together this year, and he would do nothing to jeopardize that. He would take extra precaution to not ask her out.

He smelled a hint of lavender as he passed by her to get on the train. Casting all thoughts of Lily out of his mind, he searched the compartments for the other Marauders. He managed to find them when he saw a stream of water raining upon someone with a green badge. The person left and James entered the compartment laughing.

"Who can I credit the soaked Slytherin to?"

Remus looked up. "Who else do you think? It was Sirius."

James turned towards his best friend and smirked. "Your _Aguamenti_ spell has gotten better." The two hugged. Sirius gave James a look when he didn't sit down.

"I have to go actually." Sirius started to ask why when he spotted the badge on James' chest.

"You're the bloody Head Boy? Merlin. What the hell was Dumbledore thinking?

"Shut up. Where's Peter?"

"Dunno. He probably went to find some cheese." Sirius laughed at his pun. James shook his head. He said good-bye to Remus and Sirius and made his way to the Head's compartment. He grew silent when he entered. She was already here! He wasn't ready yet. His hand reached up to mess with his hair and he brought it back down immediately. He had to act as if he wasn't in love with her. She turned away from the window to look at him and he swore. She was more beautiful now than when he saw her earlier.

"Hello, Potter," she said.

"Hello, Evans." He sat down opposite her and looked pointedly away. The silence pressed around them, and James had to say something.

"I- we, missed you this summer." Lily looked at James quizzically but did not say anything.

James started to babble. "When we went down to the shore. Mary came with us. She pushed Sirius in and Peter fell in when he tried to save him."

"Oh…" Lily looked downcast. "I, um, I had some family issues over the summer. That's why I couldn't go. I wanted to though; I've only seen Mary once this summer." James heart soared, but then grew guilty.

"Do you wanna-"

"No, I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay. Just, I'm here. Trust me; I'm used to family problems."

"Potter, I said that I didn't want to talk about it! How hard is that to understand?" She was now glaring at him with tears in her eyes.

James threw his hands up in the air. "Merlin, Evans. I was just trying to bloody help." The two lapsed back into silence. They didn't speak until the train was closer to Hogwarts.

"I'm sorry, Potter," Lily said quietly, looking down at her lap. "It's just a really difficult time right now."

"It's okay, Evans, but you have to do one thing before I forgive you," James leaned over to Lily and made her raise her head. "You have to call me James. It's completely mad to have two Gryffindor Heads fighting all the time."

She sighed. "Fine… James."

"Good." James opened the compartment's door and looked back at Lily. "I really did miss you this summer." He walked down to the prefects' compartment, leaving a very confused Lily behind.


	2. The Cold Shoulder

**Title:** The Cold Shoulder  
**Rating:** T  
**Character/Pairing:** Lily/James  
**Summary:** "Good." James opened the compartment's door and looked back at Lily. "I really did miss you this summer." He walked down to the prefects' compartment, leaving a very confused Lily behind. Written for daysandweeks' '5 Chapter Challenge' and xXStandingInTheRainXx's 'What You'd Never Write' challenge  
**A/N:** Weird random fact, but the word cound for the first chapter was 754, while the word count for this chapter was 574 :/ All reviews get a very fun filled PM of the rough draft of this chapter (which was hell), complete with Swearing and utter enjoyable randomness! Anyway, please enjoy!

* * *

Lily was ignoring him, and he had no idea why.

James had finally thought that they were getting along. They would hang out and talk and laugh, but then Lily suddenly turned cold towards him. When he asked Mary about it, he found that she wasn't talking to anyone. When he tried to figure out what was wrong, he discovered that Lily was avoiding him (and everyone else) at all cost. She would leave class before he got a chance to talk to her and would go to bed just as he got back to the dorm.

Getting annoyed one day when Lily purposely ran off when he walked up to her, James knocked on her door. She had said that she was going to bed, but James could see a faint light through the crack.

"Lily?" When he got no answer, he unlocked the door and walked in. Lily was sitting on her bed, clutching a pillow and crying. She looked up at James when he entered and glared.

"I told you I was going to bed, James."

"Why are you crying Lily?" She avoided his gaze and looked down, not uttering a word.

James came closer. "We're friends now Lily. You can tell me."

There was a pause. "I don't want to be your friend, James. That's what caused this whole mess," She said forcefully.

He was shocked. Lily wasn't making any sense; how could their friendship possibly cause her to cry?

"Lily-"

"No, just leave, Potter," Lily spat out his name venomously. James took an involuntary step back. Hearing his last name leave her lips was like poison. Everything he had worked for was gone. James got angry.

"Lily, I'm not going to just leave! Tell me why the hell you're crying!"

She jumped up from her bed, stepping towards him. "I'm crying because you're an idiot, Potter. You and your stupid pureblood family and the rest of this stupid world!"

"Pureblood? You're mad at me because I'm _pureblood_?" James' fury was overwhelming. Lily backed down, looking ashamed.

"At least I'm fine with being an outcast," James said in a quiet voice. He left her room, slamming the door behind him. He thought that he heard another sob, but he was too angry to care.

Back in his room, his anger grew. Why the hell should he try to be friends with Lily anyway? She was a stubborn, arrogant snob.

James knew that he was lying to himself though. He shouldn't have argued with her; he knew that she was terrified of Voldemort, despite her saying otherwise, and he knew that she was doing this to protect everyone else. And still he got mad and yelled at her. He wanted to go back to her, to tell her that he understood everything, but he didn't. He had no right to, not after what he said to her.

So instead, he sat in his room, listening to the faint sound of Lily crying, readying himself for when she wanted to talk to him again.


	3. I Hope Tomorrow Never Comes

**Title:** I Hope Tomorrow Never Comes  
**Rating:** T  
**Character/Pairing:** Lily/James  
**Summary:** "Good." James opened the compartment's door and looked back at Lily. "I really did miss you this summer." He walked down to the prefects' compartment, leaving a very confused Lily behind. Written for daysandweeks' '5 Chapter Challenge' and xXStandingInTheRainXx's 'What You'd Never Write' challenge.

* * *

_He was coming closer. His eyes pierced her and he raised his wand to her chest, a look of hatred on his face. A smile grazed his lips, and pure enjoyment lit up the flame in his eyes. A green light came from his wand, and she was suddenly falling into an impenetrable darkness, unable to take a single breath. She looked to her left and saw her mum and dad, silent tears across their faces. She turned to her right and saw James, reaching out to her. She lifted her hand, trying to grasp his, but she couldn't, and she knew that at any second, they would both die and she would lose him forever- _

Lily sat up in her bed, panting heavily and coated in sweat. It was the dream again, that horrible dream. Unable to go back to sleep, Lily put on her rob and walked out into the common room. She sat down on the couch and pulled her knees up to her chest, burying her head in her hands and choking back a sob. She felt a hand run over her hair and she jumped. It was James. He must have heard her crying and had come out to see what was wrong.

Their fight was still fresh in her mind, and Lily wanted to apologize right there, but she could barely breath. James knew that she was sorry, and he pulled her into a hug. Lily couldn't help herself; she started sobbing into his shoulder, desperately trying to rid herself of her fear.

James ran his fingers through her hair, trying to calm them both. He lowered her to the couch where she continued to cry. Eventually, Lily's tears subsided and everything was silent.

"I'm scared, James. I'm so scared."

"I know, Lily, I know." Lily wiped her eyes, but more tears started to fall.

"I keep seeing his face, coming closer to mine. I see that smile of his, and I can feel him killing me. I'm so scared. I have that dream every night, and every night I pray that he doesn't come for me the next day."

James was shaking with anger. "He will never get you, Lily. I'll kill him before he even comes close." Lily buried her head into James' chest again. He stroked her hair and she tightened her hold on him to make sure that he wouldn't leave. Slowly, she fell asleep. James planted a kiss on her forehead.

"I love you, Lily." He tightened his arms around her and the two stayed like that for the rest of the night.


	4. Not Alone

**Title:** Not Alone  
**Rating:** T  
**Character/Pairing:** Lily/James  
**Summary:** "Good." James opened the compartment's door and looked back at Lily. "I really did miss you this summer." He walked down to the prefects' compartment, leaving a very confused Lily behind. Written for daysandweeks' '5 Chapter Challenge' and xXStandingInTheRainXx's 'What You'd Never Write' challenge.

* * *

James walked into the library to find Lily leaning across a table, whispering furiously to Mary MacDonald. Mary looked close to tears, and when she spotted James walking towards them, she got up and darted out of the library, hiding her face from him. James walked over to the table and sat down in the seat Mary had just vacated

"Hi."

Lily gave him a weary smile. "Hello, James."

"Is something wrong with Mary?" he asked quietly, so as to not be overheard by the other students.

"She's terrified," Lily whispered. "You remember when Mulciber attacked her in third year? She's terrified that something much worse is going to happen to her or her family. I was trying to reassure her, but I don't think I did much good."

"Are _you_ okay?" Weeks has passed since that fateful night of Lily's nightmare, and James had remembered to ask her each day if she was alright.

"I suppose so. I think I have to be. War is imminent, no matter how afraid I am. The least I can do is to act brave for the others."

James looked at the young woman whom he had fallen in love with. She could lose everything she had ever known and yet she still acted so brave.

"Thank you James." Lily's sudden appreciation jolted James out of his thoughts.

'For what?"

"For….well, everything. For being there when I had the nightmare, for not letting me push you away."

"I would never have forgiven myself if I hadn't Lily."

"I know." She reached her hand out and laid it on top of his, clutched together on the top of the table.

"How are the others, James?"

He sighed. "Not good. They're tense, very tense." James rubbed his forehead. "They keep pulling these stupid, half-hearted pranks, just to try and get things back to normal and they're going to kill themselves with one of them. Every prank just makes things tenser. Sirius and Remus almost got in a fight the other day."

"Oh no, what over?"

"Something stupid; they don't even know what. And Sirius' parents are making everything worse, publically criticizing muggle-borns. Sirius has gotten more than a few nasty looks because of it. You would think, after seven years of going to Hogwarts, of seeing who he was, people would realize he wasn't a pureblood fanatic. If I wasn't Head Boy…" James groaned in frustration and flung his head down. Lily gripped his hand harder. She leaned over the table and lowered her voice.

"At least there's that." He looked up, confused.

"There's what?"

She smiled slightly.

"No matter what, we'll never be alone, James. None of us will ever be alone."

He smiled back.

"No matter what, Lily. No matter what."


	5. Enemies

**Title:** Enemies

**Rating:** T

**Character/Pairing:** Lily/James

**Summary:** "Good." James opened the compartment's door and looked back at Lily. "I really did miss you this summer." He walked down to the prefects' compartment, leaving a very confused Lily behind. Written for daysandweeks' '5 Chapter Challenge' and xXStandingInTheRainXx's 'What You'd Never Write' challenge.

**Author's Note:** This final chapter _is_ clichéd, and I am fully aware of this. But, whatever. Please tell me your opinion of it. And for anyone who didn't know, _Changing_ is actually being fully-rewritten into a proper full length, multi-chapter Lily/James fic. I have the entire story planned up; I just have to write the first few chapters before I publish it. But please be on the lookout for it; I'm extremely proud of it and it's definitely better and a higher skill level than this is. Thank you~

* * *

Months passed by, and winter gave way to spring. Soon, all of Hogwarts entered the time of studying. The seventh years focused on their N.E.W.T. exams, using it as a distraction from the growing reports of Lord Voldemort and the unavoidable war. Too soon for anyone, the stress-filled, week-long period of exams came.

Lily sat in her final examination, Transfiguration. She could see James from where she was. He sat in the row to her left, four seats up. She watched him as he wrote, his quill never stopping.

He had certainly changed over the past year. He was no longer the obnoxious boy who flirted with her and irritated her every chance he got. They had, surprisingly, become good friends. He was still mischievous, of course, and still loved pranks; he would never fully grow out of a being a Marauder. But Lily had realized that she didn't want him to.

He looked up from his paper, stuck for an answer, and glance around the room. He caught her eye and smiled. She smiled back, and both went back to their essays. When she finished, she got up and turned hers in. She grabbed her bag when she passed her desk and walked out of the Great Hall. She was halfway to the door when she heard her name called out behind her.

It was James, of course. She stopped, waiting for him, and he jogged to catch up with her. He reached her and flashed her a smile. She never realized before how sincere his smiles were.

"How do you think you did?"

She laughed. "As well as I can expect. You?"

"Pretty damn good, if I say so myself." She laughed again and started walking. He followed her. Both were silent. She led him to the Great Lake and placed her things under one of the trees. She plopped on the ground and laid down, staring up at the sky. He copied her position. They sat in silence, and the entire time, Lily was highly aware of the heat he was radiating. She could just barely feel his hand by hers. Butterflies grew in her stomach when she thought about how close they were. And just then, he spoke, and interrupted her thoughts.

"Dumbledore recruited me to fight Voldemort." She turned over and looked at him, pure shock on her face.

"What?"

He refused to meet her gaze as he continued. "There's this group, the Order of the Phoenix, and Dumbledore asked me if I would join. They're fighting Voldemort and his supporters and anyone who's ever tried to hurt innocent people. They're fight our enemies and trying to save people, and they asked me, and I said yes." He turned and stared straight into her eyes. "I wanted to know if… if you'd join with me."

She was so surprised by his question that she could only squeak out her response.

"Me?"

"You, Lily Evans, the bravest person who I've ever met."

"James, I'm not…"

"You are. Please, Lily. I don't know if I can fight him without you."

She raised one eyebrow. "Why wouldn't you be able to fight him?"

"Because," he started, frustrated. "I love you Lily! I have since fifth year! And if I know that you're just... out there, somewhere, and that I won't be there to stop him if he comes after you, I'll be too distracted to help anyone else!"

"…you love me?"

He raked his right hand through his hair as he stared up at the sky again. "Yes, Lily, I love you."

She smiled, even though she knew he couldn't see it.

"Good, because I think I love you too." His head turned towards her. His face was a mixture of surprise and euphoria, but before he could say anything, Lily leaned towards him.

"Yes," she whispered and then leaned down and kissed him.


End file.
